FCC Chairman’s draft rules for 700MHz auction call for open access

Big guns in the wireless industry like AT&T and Verizon may be prevented from …

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has released a draft of the rules which will govern the upcoming 700MHz auction, and it's good news for those advocating for an open-access policy. Under the proposed rules, 22MHz of the spectrum to be auctioned would be subject to open-access regulations, meaning that the companies winning the auction would not be able to control what kind of devices are attached to the network or how the bandwidth is used.

At last month's NXTcomm telecom conference in Chicago, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein became the first of the five FCC commissioners to publicly support an open-access policy. Major cellular carriers like AT&T and Verizon have been critical of open-access requirements, with an AT&T executive telling Reuters in May that such a policy is "something we would not be in favor of."

In contrast, Google has embraced the idea of open access and has been mulling its options for the upcoming spectrum auction. Yesterday, Google filed a letter (PDF) with the FCC urging it, among other things, to adopt an open-access approach to the spectrum auction. The search giant wants to see winning bidders bound to four requirements, including one that would force winning bidders to offer spectrum to third parties on "reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms."

Google is not alone in its fears that, should the 700MHz spectrum auction be conducted in the same way as previous spectrum auctions, large wireless incumbents that would snap up the available spectrum and impose the same kind of usage restrictions that currently exist on cellular networks. That's not the kind of outcome envisioned by those hoping to see a third broadband pipe emerge from the auction.

During his keynote address at NXTcomm, Commissioner Martin reiterated his desire to "get the spectrum out into the marketplace quickly" and said that he wanted to see a "wireless broadband pipe" into the home, but made no mention of an open-access policy. The Dow Jones Newswire is reporting that Martin's draft rules have not yet been forwarded to the other four commissioners, but given Adelstein's support, proponents of an open-access policy have reason to be optimistic.

Martin's proposed rules would shut the door on Frontline Wireless' plans for the spectrum while opening the door to other companies—like Google. In a post on its Public Policy Blog, Google said that the company has been evaluating "whether and how Google might participate meaningfully in the auction." Google is interested in bidding on the spectrum, but says that incumbent carriers enjoy advantages that will make it difficult for other would-be bidders—including Google—to prevail if the auction is carried out under the old rules.

The auction itself is supposed to begin by January 2008, so we're definitely moving into crunch time for the rule-making process. If Chairman Martin's proposed rules do indeed mandate open access for auction winners, it's great news for those of us hoping that opening the 700MHz spectrum will lead a third broadband pipe and increased broadband competition in the United States.